The Terrible Tragedy

This video is so ridiculous, I just had to laugh watching it. It was shown at a huge conference for frum (ultra-Orthodox) Jews in 2009 and speaks of a "great tragedy": that 14% of  "girls" (their word, not mine) from the community polled, ages 24-29, are - wait for it (hat-tip Barney Stinson!) - still single. Unlike (SPOILER!) Barney Stinson. 

I find it particularly amusing because I was probably included in this poll. The high school that I graduated from actually reached out to find out if I was married or single a few years ago. I couldn't understand why the heck they would care, but now it all makes sense. They needed me for their tragic poll. 

I actually feel awful titling this post, "The Terrible Tragedy," in the wake of the Newtown massacre and argued with myself for a bit before deciding to stick with the title  - because I want it to be clear how utterly absurd it is that "They" consider this such a tragedy. 

Being single is not tragic. Living in a world where it is considered a tragedy to be single, as I've written before, is not only unhealthy, but can actually be dangerous. 

You would think that a community that, within living memory, suffered an actual genocide would be more careful in using the word "tragedy" so freely. Because although I laughed watching this video, it really isn't funny.

Amazing Women: Sharpshooter

Let's raise a glass to Annie Oakley, a female sharpshooter in a world of male sharpshooters.

I'm a big proponent of Second Amendment rights, in part because women do not have the same upper-body strength as men and a gun can mean the difference between life and death if a woman is attacked. And as Ronald Reagan said:

“The gun has been called the great equalizer, meaning that a small person with a gun is equal to a large person, but it is a great equalizer in another way, too. It insures that the people are the equal of their government whenever that government forgets that it is servant and not master of the governed. When the British forgot that they got a revolution. And, as a result, we Americans got a Constitution; a Constitution that, as those who wrote it were determined, would keep men free. If we give up part of that Constitution we give up part of our freedom and increase the chance that we will lose it all.” ~Ronald Reagan

Amazing Women: Baby Protector

Repost from Facebook: 

Irena Sendler 
Died 12 May 2008 (aged 98)
Warsaw, Poland

During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist. 

She had an 'ulterior motive'. 

Being German, she knew what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, so Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids). 

She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises. 

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. 

She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her backyard. 

After the war, she tried to locate any parents who may have survived to reunite families. 

Most of the parents had been gassed. The children she rescued were placed into foster family homes or adopted. 

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected. 

President Obama won one year before becoming President for his work as a community organizer for ACORN and Al Gore won also --- for a slide show on Global Warming. 

In MEMORIAM - 63 YEARS LATER, I'm doing my small part by sharing this message.

I hope that you'll consider doing the same. 

This message was originally sent as an email sent as a memorial chain in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated.

Amazing Women: First Computer Programmer

Today's Google Doodle taught me that the first computer programmer was a woman, which is just awesome. 

Her name was Augusta Ada King, the Countess of Lovelace. She lived in the 1800's (1815-1852, to be precise) and while, no, there were no computers back then, her notes were found to contain an algorithm for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine which turned out to be the first algorithm that was intended to be processed by a machine. 

I love finding out things like this. :)